Seoul, Sep 1 (IANS): South Korea will conduct offensive cyber defence operations to protect critical national infrastructure from hacking attacks and counter disinformation, the presidential office said on Sunday.

The National Security Council (NSC) unveiled the National Cybersecurity Basic Plan jointly drawn up with 14 government agencies, including the spy agency, police as well as Ministries of Foreign Affairs, National Defence, and Science and ICT, following the announcement of the cybersecurity strategy in February, Yonhap news agency reported.

"We will secure deterrence against cyber activities and threat actors that undermine national security and interests through proactive and active defence measures," NSC Adviser Shin Won-Sik said in a briefing.

"We will establish a foundation for responding to disinformation that divides public opinion and causes social unrest in cyberspace," he added.

The NSC Adviser said in the briefing at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul that the plan could help better defend cyberspace against so-called "hostile forces" using the latest technologies, such as deepfakes.

The latest plan sets up 100 action tasks meant to expand on the National Cybersecurity Strategy announced at the beginning of February. Not all of the action tasks have been made public.

According to the NSO, the plan will enhance the cyber resilience of national critical infrastructure, such as major information and communication facilities and social infrastructure, as well as important information and communication systems widely used by the public. It also calls for adopting policies compatible with Artificial Intelligence and digital platform environments.

It will also establish an information security industry ecosystem based on industry-academia research collaboration and pursue global competitiveness as it builds the foundation for its national cybersecurity capabilities.

To achieve the goal, South Korea will work together with countries "sharing liberal democratic values" to cooperate and coordinate cybersecurity responses and join international efforts to build norms to create a safe and peaceful cyber domain, Shin said.

The plan also outlines measures to enhance the cyber resilience of the critical infrastructure and major communication systems, including applying artificial intelligence and separation of national and public networks from the internet and other less sensitive networks to build a "multi-layered security" system.

South Korea has sought to beef up its cybersecurity amid concerns over North Korea's alleged cryptocurrency theft to fund its nuclear and missile programs and hacking of local defence contractors to steal military technology essential for major weapons systems.